As she muses aloud about whether it’s better to raise a child to be compassionate but naive, or shrewd but callous, I think of my own tendency toward the willful naivety of a bleeding heart, the way it has been ironically challenging to the people I love most. I think of my partner’s concern when I would pick up hitchhikers, loan money I might never get back, miss important personal obligations because I felt I was morally moved to attend a march or demonstration protesting one of this administration’s innumerable injustices. I think of my mother negotiating the line between insulation and exposure, of the times when my fragile adolescent ego was wounded by the brass tacks she considered a vital part of education.

Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus will release their debut EP as Boygenius on November 9th. Today they’ve debuted three songs on Spotify and Apple Music. The full press release can be found below.

Last night at NPR Music’s ‘Turning The Tables Live’ concert and discussion, moderator Ann Powers asked Phoebe Bridgers about a new project with her, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus. Phoebe confirmed it was real.

She continues, sinking deeper into the question: “The narrative of the record is about starting off with this idea that because there are things about you that are challenging, difficult or ugly—or that you perceive as broken—that those things need to be eradicated because there are Bad things or Good things—capital B, capital G—and I just don’t think that that’s true. I’ve learned throughout the last couple of years from life that probably the [opposite] is true. That ugliest and most challenging parts of ourselves are often the things that make us most human and are our most precious tools in relating to each other.”